Reigning Ram National Circuit champions Josh Boka and Parker Breding will be among those competing at Pacific Steel Recycling Four Seasons Arena this weekend at the 38th annual Montana Pro Rodeo Finals.

Breding is a full-time bull rider and former National Finals Rodeo cowboy from Fromberg, while Boka is a steer wrestler whose main job is driving big rigs for his father’s Dillon business, Boka Freight.

“It’s a great family business that my dad’s owned for 36 or 37 years,” Boka said last April after winning the national championship with four flawless runs at the Ram National Circuit Finals in Kissimmee, Fla. He earned the trip by winning the average at last year’s MPRF, an accomplishment that nearly reduced the big man to tears.

“Man, I won’t ever forget it,” he said after earning the national title in Florida. “It was incredible. And my whole family was down there, which just made it that much better.”

Boka doesn’t have a shot at winning a circuit year-end championship this weekend – Helena NFR bulldogging star Ty Erickson already has that locked up – but another average title would send him back to Florida.

And that’s part of the allure of the Circuit Finals, which features 7 p.m. performances Friday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. finale Sunday. More than $150,000 in prize money is up for grabs, with go-round victories paying nearly $3,000 and average triumphs worth more than that.

Championships at the Ram National Finals, meanwhile, can be worth in excess of 30 grand.

Breding, the 24-year-old former Joliet High basketball player whose father, Scott, qualified five times for the NFR in bull riding, won the Ram national title last April even though he wasn’t 100 percent.

He injured his shoulder in San Antonio last February.

“I didn’t think it was anything major, so I kept riding,” he said. “But it ended up being a (torn labrum) in my shoulder. They had to do surgery in October. It was a rough season. I got a little bit done but I couldn’t quite full-on be myself.”

The injury is to his riding arm, the left. He’s been working out steadily since the surgery.

“I actually feel great and thought I had all my strength back, but I got on a bull at the Chase Hawks (roughstock rodeo on Dec. 17) and he had his way with me,” Breding said. “Treated me like I didn’t know what I was doing. But I think that was just a little bit of rust.

“I’ve only been on one bull in the last three months so (this weekend) couldn’t come any faster.”

Breding, a two-time qualifier for the National Finals in the bull riding, is looking for his third year-end circuit championship in four years.

“I’m just glad to have a chance to win it and get a chance to go to Florida (and the Ram National Circuit Finals),” he said.

After missing out on the NFR, he’s hungry to get back there.

“For sure,” Breding said. “Having to sit home and watch it on TV every night, and not even be in Vegas, definitely makes a guy want to be back there. It kind of lit a fire under me that wasn’t really there all season. So I’m really excited to head back out and give it all I’ve got again.”

Scott Mansch has covered rodeo for many years for the Tribune and will have extra coverage of the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals throughout the week. He can be reached at 791-1481 or smansch@greatfallstribune.com